with files from CBC
Remembrance Day, as always, was a very solemn event this year. A huge crowd of tens of thousands turned out to attend the ceremony at the National War Memorial in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
Among them hundreds of uniformed soldiers, and many hundreds more veterans proudly wearing their hard-earned medals.
To the untrained eye, one particular man looked very much like a decorated soldier. During the event he was even interviewed by CBC reporter Diana Swain and other reporters.
He told CBC, “For me it’s really important to remember that people have fought for our freedom. They didn’t fight for themselves,” He also apparently told an Ottawa Citizen reporter in comments not previously published, “We fought together. It’s brothers”.
But there were many trained eyes, military personnel past and present, watching the nationally televised event on Tuesday who noticed some very strange things about the man.
He was wearing a Royal Canadian Regiment cap badge, but RCR members didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a maroon beret of the airborne regiment, and too small at that, along with jump wings, but members of the paratroopers association didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a rare “pathfinders” badge, a difficult to earn advanced reconnaissance award, but the select group of pathfinders didn’t know him. To past and present military personnel, many other things also seemed sloppy and incorrect.
He identified himself as Sergeant Franck Gervais, but as questions came in to the media about the man, the Department of National Defence said it has no record of a Franck Gervais, and certainly not of a non-commissioned officer Franck Gervais.
What infuriated veterans even more was the wearing of a Governor-General’s award for bravery. But there is no record of anyone by that name being awarded the medal.
The CBC issued a statement Wednesday about the event: “During CBC’s extensive coverage of Remembrance Day commemorations in Ottawa, we interviewed many veterans and serving members of the Canadian Forces. These included one man who had been standing among a group of uniformed personnel. To civilian eyes, he appeared to be an authentic soldier,” the statement said.
“We have since learned that he was not, that his uniform was not correct, and that he was wearing medals he had not earned. All this was drawn to our attention by veterans and serving members, who were understandably angry at seeing this counterfeit soldier”
CBC reporters also found he had dressed as a soldier in his wedding photo on his Facebook page which has since been taken offline.
It is a Criminal Code offence for someone to falsely wear a current uniform and impersonate a Canadian Forces member. It is also illegal for anyone, military or not, to wear medals not legitimately awarded.
When the CBC asked Julian Fantino, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, about the incident, he expressed concern, adding, “I would suspect that somebody should investigate and pursue the issue. But I have no knowledge of it.”
As it is a criminal code offence, the military has no jurisdiction in the matter and it will likely end up in the hands of the Ottawa police.
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